Listed firms cut the number of employees on their regular payrolls by an annual 3.4 percent on average during the three-year period through fiscal 2003, according to a Cabinet Office survey.

The poll, whose results were released earlier this week, also shows that the publicly traded firms increased the number of part-time workers or employees hired through manpower agencies by an annual 2.2 percent during the same three-year period through March 31.

The survey, conducted in January, covered 1,243 major firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Osaka Securities Exchange and the Nagoya Stock Exchange.

The surveyed companies plan to further scale back the number of regular employees by an annual 0.8 percent over the following three-year period, according to the poll.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said the international competitiveness of their products has strengthened, compared with three years earlier.

Asked which business strategy had contributed the most to raising operating profit in fiscal 2002, 43.6 percent said efforts to cut fixed costs, such as personnel expenses.

Twenty-four percent meanwhile cited measures to increase sales volume.

The average yen-dollar exchange rate at which export-oriented companies said they would be able to break even for fiscal 2004 was 105.9 yen to the dollar, up 9 yen from the previous year, according to the poll.